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You've Got Spam: AOL Blocks 1/2 Trillion Spam

Posted by michael on from the bit-bucket dept.

yohaas writes "Yahoo! News is reporting that AOL blocked more than 500 billion spam messages for its users in 2003. That comes to 40 messages a day per user. The company regularly blocks 75-80% of all incoming mail as spam! The article also lists the top 10 spam phrases for the year, including such come-ons as: 'Viagra online', 'Online pharmacy', 'Get out of debt' and 'Get bigger'."

3 of 472 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Collateral Damage by FyRE666 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Yes but how many Slashdot users, or indeed anyone with enough technical knowledge to admin their own smart host wants to talk to an a member of the (A)rmy (O)f (L)osers? And if you're about to say your relatives are using it, then you should be damned ashamed for allowing them to do such a thing!

    --
    Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
  2. Efficient my butt by r_picmip+5 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    I work for a company that does payment processing for websites, sorta like PayPal. AOL customers don't get any of our e-mail receipts which end up causing SO many problems. Even when they e-mail our support address they don't get any of our replies so they end up thinking we're a scam and go to their credit card to issue chargebacks. I know we're not the only company to have this problem, the fact that AOL customers make up about 40% of our transactions you can imagine the lost revenue.

  3. AOL is a host to spammers--boycott AOL by dananderson · · Score: 2, Flamebait
    I find it very funny that AOL is blocking a 1/2 trillion spams. AOL is also a host to major spammers. I know. I track it. AOL IP addresses 172.176.0.0 to 172.199.255.255 are used to host spammers (including porn).

    Complain to AOL about it? They do nothing--since it's not a @aol.com address, they deny responsibility, yet collect cash from their spam customers. Very convenient. I find it funny that AOL supported the CAN SPAM act, which legalizes spam and invalidates tougher local laws, such as California's. Boycott AOL if you dislike spam.